An Open Book

Welcome all!

Big announcements this week. First The Mark of a Druid is now available in print versions. Click the buy now button to go to Amazon and get your very own copy. If you want to know, more go over to the book site. http://www.themarkofadruid.com. Contest to be announced soon!

There is so much going on that it is hard to talk about it all and not sound like I am tooting my own horn. To be quiet frank, I am thrilled that I have made it this far with my dream of writing professionally.

In February of 2008 I was done hearing that mainstream publishing had no clue how to market the book because it didn’t fit into any of their categories. I was happy that the editors and publishers loved the book, I agreed with them that it needed to be edited, but I was completely disheartened that they were not willing to go out on a limb for an unknown author who did not have a platform. In other words, I wasn’t famous or known enough to create sales with just my name.

I attended a writing conference in Southern California with a dear friend. I left the conference more convinced that I needed to do this myself, but had questions about how to make it happen. My dear friend, Arlene, knew exactly what she wanted when she left the conference. She decided to podcast her novel The Fox and I am very pleased to announce that The Fox, By Arlene Radasky will be a completed podnovel this week on podiobooks.com. Congratulations Arlene, you have worked so hard and your book is out there in full for all to enjoy. I heard there is going to be a print release in the near future too! I love that we both took different routes and ended up in about the same place. Her podnovel is linked on the blog roll of this site. Go subscribe it is a wonderful Celtic story of sacrifice and love, that will warm your heart, bring your tissues. It will be a little sad when I can’t get a new episode of Jahana’s story. But I am looking forward to your new project Sea Hawk.

At the conference, there was a lot of “talk” about how publishing is changing. I listened and wondered where I was going to be in those changes. But I was unsure that I wanted to podcast alone so I decided that I was going to self publish and see if I couldn’t market the book myself, then podcast as an adjunct and a way to build a bit of a platform. I also started blogging and getting involved on net marketing for the books release. Which was this week! I am so enjoying podcasting the story as well! I can’t imagine not podcasting.

I have met so many wonderful people on this journey and here is a new friend. November 3rd on Podiobooks.com William Bostock is releasing “Searching For My Wives.” Click here to listen to the promo and subscribe for free and listen on your schedule at podiobooks.com.

Imagine how it all began, one and one-half million years ago, this marvelous,
long journey of Humanity.

“Not many protohumans were alive at any time back then, but all of us had souls, and souls persist, and there are souls which lived in hominids in Chesowanja, eastern Africa who have lived among us almost to the present day.”

Some souls, for instance, Shimmer, his wives Sita and Ahalya, Old Shiver,
Gliff, and Silver, work for peace and happiness. Others, though, often driven
by the trickster Murk, despoil, degrade, and kill, intent on dragging Mankind
down.

Life after life, from Kenya to the Ganges, Shimmer fights the old destroyer,
but all the while he tries to find and share lives with his beloved wives.

Come along as Shimmer leads migrations. Relive the waning of the Great Ice
Age and the planetwide disaster. And remember how Old Kingdom Egypt travelled
through a pleat in time to stabilize and rule the riverplains of Northern
India.

Re-experience Murk’s dark campaign to undermine that peaceful land, and once
again respond to Shimmer and Old Shiver’s call to arms and meet the enemy
between two rivers at fabled Kurukshetra.

Come relive Mankind’s infancy in “Searching for My Wives”, at podiobooks.com.

Last announcement!

 Click on imgase to hear the promo!

There is a this very neat podshow I ran across because of Twitter. Check it out. I love this show. Can’t get enough of it. Gary and Ruth are doing a fantastic job of sharing the ancient Celtic Myths with all of us. Thanks to you both for doing this. Love it! Tune in at http://celticmythpodshow.com Subscribe by RSS, Zune, iTunes or listen on their site!

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

The Mark of a Druid. Is fairing better than I ever expected!

If you haven’t subscribed yet it is free!

You can get The Mark of a Druid, serialized podcast of the novel. www.podiobooks.com here is the page address http://www.podiobooks.com/title/mark-of-the-druid All of the episodes that are available now on podiobooks.com, podcastpickle.com, Mobli, Amigofish.com, Digg, Itunes and other places as well. The Episodes are available at the same time at (usually a few hours before) at www.themarkofadruid.com under the Episode sections where you can listen to them on the site with no download or download them. I am considering doing an extended version for Themarkofadruid.com but have not made up my mind yet how that will work.

And my favorite kind of writing weather is almost upon the mountains where I live. There is nothing better for me than the fog dancing on the forest floor to inspire me to tell a story. Add to that a warm fire in the hearth and the silence that comes with winter in a resort community and it makes my mind wonder in and out of plots and subplots. The voices of my characters call to me to scribe their words and emotions. They scream, “tell my story,” and I must listen.

So you might asked what is the next book? I started a historical fiction novel based on a true story that is about ¼ done called Truth Slithers. And I have the first few chapters of the next book in the The Mark of a Druid Series in the works. The title you ask? Drum Roll Please…. When Ethers Descend.

More about the contest that is coming up. As you may have read the cover of this book is mighty special as there are lots (nope not saying how many yet) hidden images from the book in the artwork. Sometime in the next month we will be launching the contest and I can’t wait. The artist who painted the oil on canvas, Miss Amie Perry will not even tell me all the locations and I have found many of them and she says there are more. Thanks Amie that means I get to play the game too, but I can’t win anything. That just wouldn’t be fair. There will be formal rules and the prizes are very cool. Posters of the cover art, greeting cards and copies of the book all dual autographed by both me the author and Amie the artist. I have my very own Web GOD! Dave from http://wrkg.com/ who is full of very cool interactive ideas for the book site and how the contest can be interactive on the web so look for announcements about that as the day gets closer and tons of other cool stuff for the readers to get involved in. I figure if we are going interactive lets take it to a new level.

The Print Version?

I have approved the final cover polish and the print versions hardback and paperback of The Mark of a Druid are in print set up right now. So in a couple of weeks tops I will be holding this labor of love in my hands!!!! Can’t wait! Then it will go live at the iuniverse bookstore website and a few weeks after that we will be announcing the contest and going live on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com as well as bookstores and outlets everywhere in the USA. .

If you have been following the progress of the endeavor then you know there has been a lot of work and I am very excited how well it is going. I was checking the stats for hits on Friday of this week and I was shocked. In a good way. 81,219 hits between rhondacarpenter.com and themarkofadruid.com and it is not even the half way point yet. So keep coming back and tell a friend. Thank you all so much it feels great to have so much interest.

If you haven’t noticed the blog roll to your right or the Hot Promo page you should take a minute and hear what else is out there. I started Fractured Horizon by H.E. Roulo and I am totally impressed with the story so this may be one you will want to follow if you want a story that is original and read very well by the author. And congratulations H.E. For hitting the The Podiobooks Top Ten #1 slot! For the most downloads in the last 30 days! Great Job! So what are waiting for check it out. You won’t be disappointed. I haven’t been.

As I have been unable to record this week because my oldest son was in a car accident and is in living room recovering from double pelvis fractures. Poor guy! Sorry “G” But no worries I have episodes in reserve for just such a problem. How did I know??? Hey life happens you just need to be as prepared as possible. So if push comes to shove and I hope it doesn’t, I will be good for 4 more weeks of episodes before things get critical. I promise I will do my best not to let the listeners down. I know I have a problem when I get into a book and then all of a sudden there is a gape in installments. So I said I would not do that to my listeners. Hence the reserve!

Okay I have prattled on enough. Remember leave a comment either here or podiobooks.com or itunes. It helps and only takes a second you don’t have to tell your real name. But I would so help me to know what you are thinking and what you like or don’t like so I can do this better for the next books. All comments are appreciated.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

I am so excited that I have reached this level of production with the book. Tomorrow…

Monday… September 29, 2008

You can get The Mark of a Druid, serialized podcast of the novel. Where you ask? It is going live on http://www.podiobooks.com/title/mark-of-the-druid Please notice this page is not live until the day of release. Sign up for an account there is no cost involved. At that time you will be able to add My book to your subscriber’s list or any of the others. It is free! And you can snag the promo here! http://www.rhondacarpenter.com/?page_id=95 post it to your website send it to your email, chat buddies, put it up on your myspace, facebook and talk about it on twitter and please tell a friend! And let me know if you have a podcast you would like me to promo in reciprocation.

All of the episodes that are available on podiobooks.com and soon Itunes and other places are available one week before at www.themarkofadruid.com under the podcast section where you can listen to them on the site with no download or download them.

Sunday is upload day as well as Blog night. So keep up with what is going on and get your weekly fix of The Mark of a Druid.

So Why Free?

This is completely a personal decision. I know that in my home my husband is more the listener and I am the hold the book in my hands gal, although, I do listen too. As a new author people don’t know about me and this is one of many ways I am getting my name and the story out there. As I move forward with the publication process for the print books I am confident that the free release of the podcast version will build some chatter and help with letting those know that the book is about to be out there in print. The pod casting has been totally fun and educational and I can’t imagine release any book with out using this kind of medium. Like any author, I want people to read or listen and cash dollars while important and graciously accepted for all the long hours of work I simply want to write and be read. So there you have it: 1. It is a marketing tool and 2. It is fun! 3. It has worked for the big boys.

Speaking of Marketing the book and fun! We will be announcing a contest as soon as we have a release date for the print version is given to me so stay tuned for that and the new website for the book going live around the same time there will be so many things to talk about as that gets closer.

Talking about the print versions and E-book versions… This week the cover proofs came in. At the end of the process, I will give a review of the iuniverse’s way of doing business and how my experience went with this self publishing company. All of you authors out there will want to read that when it comes out it promises to be very eye opening and will help you in making the decision as to what company to go with. I am also hoping I can talk Arlene Radasky into reviewing her company as she has made the first steps toward publishing The Fox. Congrats Arlene! The way it is looking it may be about the same time frame. That should perk your ears as she just started. Hmmmm.

The cover proof sheet was retuned to my PSA today and when he arrives tomorrow I should get confirmation that it is received. So another deadline beat by days and the next step after the answering of a couple of questions will be print set up and author proof after that, it is 1 ½ to 2 weeks for the interior and exterior changes to be done and 14 business days to do the print set up with the printers. Ahhhh! Then I will be getting a release date for Barnes and Noble and Amazon and it will be available on Iuniverse first. I am so excited!

This week is about podcasting. Out there tell everyone that the book is available. Market, Market Market. Edit Episode 12 which is almost done and start on Episode 13 which is recorded but not edited. And write the press releases. Scary!
 

Also this week the book was promoted on J.D. Sawyers Antithesis and Edward G. Tabolt’s New Word Order as well as Emriane Rich’s Horror Addicts. Thank you all for adding my promo. You’re the best! See these authors works in the hot promo section of this site. Very cool stuff.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter